


Conspiracy

by Legume_Shadow



Series: Echoes: A Peacemaker Kurogane/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover [11]
Category: Peacemaker Kurogane, Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Author Loves Writing the Meiji Revolution, Gen, Saitou Took Over my Series!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-03
Updated: 2012-08-03
Packaged: 2017-12-28 06:35:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/988876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legume_Shadow/pseuds/Legume_Shadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the withdrawal of Itou's group, even more conspiracies are running amok in Kyoto and this time, the Commander of the Shinsengumi has had enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conspiracy

**Author's Note:**

> First Publishing: August 2012. All copyrights apply to the appropriate parties and no profit is being made from this fanwork.

**Part 8: Conspiracy**

_Year: July 1867_

 

“Sir,” Susumu said, keeping his head bowed as he held out a folded paper to Kondou, “the reports as you’ve requested.”

“Hm,” the commander grunted as he shifted through the leaflets before putting them down on the desk and folded them tightly. “Excellent work, Yamazaki,” he said after a moment. “Please continue to keep an eye out, and should anything happen, let me know.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Oh, and Yamazaki,” Kondou said as Susumu got up from where he was sitting. “Please have Matsumoto report to me.”

“Yes, sir,” he answered again, giving the commander a curt bow and left.

_This may have to be taken care of, the way Serizawa-kyoukuchou had been taken care of_ , Kondou thought to himself, a deep frown forming on his face as he stared at the folded leaflets. _This strong message also needs to be received by the Goryoueji group._

* * *

The humid, hot summer of Kyoto weighed down on many of the inhabitants out on the streets, but at least it was a clear enough day after several days of constant rain that had filled the irrigation streams almost to the brim. With Kyoto's inhabitants sick of being cooped up in their houses, most of them were out and about on the streets on this sunny day, despite the humidity and heat.

It made it easier for Aya to blend in, for no one was paying attention too much to any of the samurai walking about and were more focused on their own business. She was, however, quite glad that she was at least a head taller than the average height for a Japanese woman for this particular disguise, but the unfortunate part was that she wasn't the average height for a Japanese man. No matter...just as long as she looked the part of a man, dressed in a plain-looking hakama and gi, along with carrying a katana and wakizashi. The wakizashi was hers, but the katana had been specifically forged for her disguise, and thus, she did not claim it as her own. Her hair had been done up in a tight topknot, and she had added a fake scar to the left side of her face.

She made her way down to the particular place she was to meet her contact, walking with confidence, but not too much as to draw attention to herself. She did, however, turn her head slightly towards the other way, pretending to be interested in some clay bowls that a vendor was selling on the side of the street as she saw a particular group approach. Nagakura, Okita, and the Ichimura brothers were not dressed in the colors of a Shinsengumi patrol unit, but they had seen her depart headquarters in her disguise. She wanted to avoid having any contact with them, lest whoever else was watching from the shadows would assume otherwise. Whatever the four were conversing about made them content, and she waited until they passed and resumed her walk.

She finally reached her destination, the hot and crowded Shirabeko, a place where hot pots and beef were on the menu and entered. When asked to how many were in her party, she indicated two, and was led to a fairly crowded area. She sat and waited for her contact to show, while making herself look interested in the menu.

Her contact did not keep her waiting long as the thump of someone sitting in front of her caused her to look up from the menu to see Saitou sitting in front of her. “I would have preferred a buckwheat noodle shop to this,” the Third Unit Captain said.

“I prefer somewhere where I can get a decent meal,” she shot back, keeping her voice as close to a man's as she could manage.

Saitou merely snorted in annoyance, knowing that as part of her disguise, Shinohara Tainoshin of the Third Unit definitely preferred some place fairly expensive, but not too much that it wouldn't break anyone's coin purse, least of all Saitou's. “What news?”

“Already down to business with not even a proper greeting, eh _kumichou_?” she jabbed as one of the waitresses came by and took their orders. When the waitress was gone, she said, “All is quiet as usual. If all goes well, the vice-commander will be returning from his trip to Osaka today. Okita and Nagakura have taken a few people of your unit out on patrol so they're not slacking off while you're enjoying life outside of Kyoto.”

Their orders and the hot pot that went with it came quickly as she stopped talking. Wordlessly, the two ate for a few minutes before Aya finished half of what was given to her and casually leaned back a bit. Fishing out a pack of western cigarettes she had specifically acquired for this particular meeting, she stuck the end of it in small fire that was keeping the hot pot warm and water boiling. She carefully puffed the cigarette, not allowing the narcotic to fill her as she blew the smoke out. It tasted horrible in her mouth and she quashed the cigarette.

Offering the pack to Saitou, who merely took one and lit it up in the same manner she did, she watched as he inhaled the contents and saw a slow, feral smile spread across his lips. “I'll take the pack if you don't like it. Such a waste of good quality western cigarettes.”

She duly handed over the pack, knowing that Saitou knew that she did not like cigarettes and thus had hidden the message that Kondou wanted her to pass onto him in the pack. If anyone was watching, then they would have heard just the words and would not be able to interpret anything else from it. The cloak-and-dagger that both she and Saitou played out in public for the months since the abrupt departure of the Goryoueji group from the Shinsengumi was to keep up pretenses of Saitou being a double agent and her, or at least her disguise, of being an informant.

“So what is it that the _fukuchou_ has gone to Osaka for?” he asked.

“Interception of foreign shipments,” she replied. “We know that a few of the rebels have been getting their supplies via the black market, and one of our sources told us Osaka was a port-of-call.”

“And what will the Shinsengumi do with such shipments?”

“I don't know...maybe use them?” she challenged, with a smirk on her face. “It would be interesting to see our forces use the western technology against the rebels who so profess _sonno joi_ yet embrace western ideals like a fast-spreading illness.”

Saitou humorously smiled as they wrapped up their conversation, with Saitou paying for the meal, and left the crowded Shirabeko. They departed in opposite directions without another word to each other, each going their own way, message sent and received.

* * *

As soon as the first cigarette was almost done, Saitou pulled out the small carton and peered into it, seeing the tiny fold in which the paper had been lined into the carton. As he pulled out another cigarette, he deftly pulled out the tiny piece of rice paper, making sure that his hand was covering it. Lighting up the second cigarette on the end of his first one, he dropped the first one and quashed it with his shoe before continuing to walk on. His hands returned the carton to the inside of his gi, while his fingers held onto the piece of paper. When he finally took the cigarette out of his mouth, inhaling a long drag from it, he looked at the piece of paper and the small name and date that was written on it:

Takeda Kanryuusai, party, July 23, 1867.

_So the moron is finally going to bite the dust_ , he thought to himself. The fact that the date had been written with the western reckoning backed up the fact that not only were the Shinsengumi starting to transition to western help, they were starting to adopt western ways of writing. The word 'party' meant that Kondou and the others were going to hold some kind of gathering for Takeda, and Saitou had a hunch that it was a departure party for the man.

Rice paper easily dissolved in water, and so as Saitou returned to the outskirts of Kyoto and to where the Goryoueji group had called their headquarters, he casually dropped the paper into the free-flowing stream of an irrigation channel. The rest of his second cigarette dropped at the same time as the paper and he quashed it with his heel.

He had never liked the Fifth Unit Captain, whom he thought of as a simpering fool who took too much time trying to praise those higher up or more well influenced. He had also been quite vain about his appearance, and wore what Saitou thought was the most disgusting scent he had ever smelled on anyone, even worse than fifteen Kyoto-hot summer days of rotting fish. Takeda also skirted a lot of the usual work that the captains carried out, citing more than often that his skills were needed elsewhere. All in all, Saitou had ultimately found him repulsive and wondered how did the man ever achieve the rank of captain within the Shinsengumi.

“Uh oh, Saitou looks like he's about to kill someone,” the jesting voice brought him out of his thoughts as he stopped before the two members of the Goryoueji that were guarding the entrance to the Aburakoji inn. He quickly schooled his expression back to a neutral, almost bored look. The guard had no idea just how close he had been to hitting the truth.

“Did your _date_ with Shinohara go sour?”

Saitou resisted the urge to punch the guards and instead, said in his usual indifferent yet caustic tone, “It went quite well, you morons. We had lunch and then sex out in the open streets before I pounded his face into a bloody pulp for leaving me for another man.”

He ignored their goggled looks at his absurd story before pushing past them and took the steps up to Itou's office two at a time. He knelt at the closed door as he sensed Itou's presence along with an unfamiliar one in the room and said, “Sir, I have some news for you.”

He heard some shuffling before hearing Itou say, “Enter.”

He entered and saw a nondescript man sitting placidly near the Goryoueji commander and slid the partition shut. If Itou was not kicking the man out of the meeting, the he suppose that he would just have to report over open and unknown ears. Sitting in seiza on the floor, he said, “Hijikata is returning from Osaka tonight after an interception raid on one of the ships providing weapons to Choshuu forces. It is possible that not only the Shinsengumi and other groups will be using these weapons, they will also try to intercept more shipments.”

“Then we will have to start intercepting shipments on our own,” Itou said. “Thank you for bringing it to my attention, Saitou-san. You are dismissed.”

Saitou bowed slightly before leaving. In two days, the message that Kondou wanted to pass on to not only the rest of the Shinsengumi, but also to Itou would be sent. Saitou was well aware that Takeda had tried to join the Goryoueji group – he had been the one to throw the man out of Aburakoji on the orders of Itou. He had also been well aware that before that, Takeda had tried to coerce Itou to form a breakaway group, to which he found ironic that Itou had refused to while in the background, Itou was already backstabbing the entire Shinsengumi with the build up of his Goryoueji group. All of this and more had been reported to both Kondou and Hijikata.

He was not sure what had changed Kondou's mind about Takeda, but perhaps the commander had finally tired of the pandering fool. Good riddance.

* * *

_Two nights later..._

 

“Shinsengumi Fifth Unit Captain Takeda Kanryuusai?”

“That would be _former_ Shinsengumi Fifth Unit Captain,” the man answered, his words slurred rather drunkenly. “I’m a free man…free to do whatever the hell I want to now…”

“You are hereby charged with treason against the Shogun and Emperor whom you served while in the Shinsengumi. We have found many correspondences between you and rebel forces. Your punishment is death.”

“That voice…” the drunken former captain said, managing to draw his sword out without cutting himself as he weaved a bit around the bridge in a stupor. “It sounds familiar--”

The rest of his words were gurgled as a blade slammed into him from the back, causing him to look bewildered at the sudden stab of pain that jolted through him and downwards to see a blood-covered blade protruding from his chest. His scream was cut short for in the next second after he registered the mortal wound dealt to him, he was swiftly decapitated.

* * *

Even though the dying shriek of the former Fifth Unit Captain never reached full volume, those sitting in the silent hall heard a ghost of it. The full trays of rich food sat in front of them untouched and cold, oils and gravy congealing, but none of them could even bring their gazes towards the food. They had sat in silence as soon as the commander had ushered the clearly inebriated former Fifth Unit Captain out of the door, promising that they would catch up with him soon. As soon as the commander had slid the door shut, he had ordered everyone in the hall to remain seated, thus the long, uncomfortable silence.

“Who did you send to assassinate him?” Hijikata asked, breaking the silence.

“Our best people for the job,” Kondou answered, “Saitou Hajime and Shinohara Tainoshin.”

“We have no one by the name of Shinohara--”

Hijikata’s words were silenced by the sliding of the opening and closing of the door to the hall and the deliberate, heavy footsteps of two people walking in and stopping right next to the commander. Neither person knelt or sat, but everyone in the hall could clearly see the large amount of blood covering them, splattered on their faces, staining not only their outer bright-blue jackets, but also their hakama and gi.

“Assignment completed, sir,” they heard the voice of Aya say as she broke her disguise as a Shinsengumi regular. “We found this on him.” She put a small, blood-covered western gun on the floor next to the commander’s tray before straightening.

“He also had these on him,” Saitou said, putting packet of small, folded rectangular pieces of paper next to the gun. “Foreign currency and letters of correspondence from Satsuma from the looks of it.”

Kondou was silent for a few long moments before saying, “You are both dismissed.”

The two left without another word, leaving only blood-covered footprints behind and there was another few minutes of uncomfortable silence before Kondou spoke again, this time saying, “These past few months have been trying on all of us, but tonight, for those of you wavering in your allegiance, _this_ is what will happen _when_ you are caught. I will give you this once chance to leave now if you value your life.”

No one moved.

* * *

“Hey, it looks like they’re returning! Finally! Boy that was a long party,” Tetsu exclaimed as he hurried from the rooftop and climbed down.

“Three years ago, you were complaining about how you didn’t have any free time and now you’re actually _glad_ they’re back?” Susumu scoffed as he followed his friend down. “You could’ve stayed with Saya all night; you know…it’s not like the _fukuchou_ has anything for you to do this late at night, kid.”

“Yeah, but she said she wasn’t feeling too well, so I didn’t want to disturb her rest,” he said as he hurried to the entrance. “Besides, I bet they have some great stories to tell about what happened…I want to hear them.”

As they rounded the corner that would take them into the courtyard, Susumu suddenly grabbed Tetsu by the shoulder, halting him from going any further. The way the Shinsengumi members were moving, along with their low murmurs to each other told him that something had happened – something bad.

As Tetsu spluttered, Susumu said, “I don’t think you want to go there, kid. Something is going on. Go to sleep. I’ll come get you if the _fukuchou_ needs anything.”

He should have known that his words were not going to have much of an effect on the curiosity of Tetsu and it only was by chance that the first person to walk by where they were was Okita. “Hey, Okita-san,” Tetsu said.

“Tetsu-kun,” the First Unit Captain said, affecting a surprised look, though Susumu could clearly see that it was strangely an effort on the captain’s part to actually put any sort of emotion through his face. “I thought you were staying with Saya-chan?”

“She doesn’t feel well, so I came back,” Tetsu answered, his tone a bit melancholic. “Anyways, how was the party? What happened? Usually, I expect you guys to come back all cheerful…everyone is so quiet.”

Susumu saw Okita’s expression slide to that of a very unusual guarded, quiet look, and frowned. In an uncustomary hard tone, Okita stated, “Fifth Unit Captain Takeda Kanryuusai was assassinated tonight by two of our own. He had been found guilty of taking bribes from foreigners and corresponding with rebel forces. Kondou-san took it upon himself to give the order.”

“Why was he not allowed to commit seppuku?” Tetsu asked. “I thought that that is what the Scriptures said.”

“Traitors are never honorable, Tetsu-kun,” Okita quietly replied. “He dishonored the samurai code, and we could not allow him to taint it even further. Death by assassination was the only option for him.”

 

~*~*~*~

**Author's Note:**

> Historically, it's debatable who exactly killed the 5th Unit Captain...some say it was Saitou under orders from Kondou, some say it was (real-life) Shinohara Tainoshin also under orders from Kondou.


End file.
